Review: 'The 39 Steps' in Garrison

Sunday

Jun 24, 2012 at 2:00 AM

GARRISON — Since it opened in England in 2005, "The 39 Steps" has been racing across world stages at a record pace, matching the headlong chase of its hero in flight from the police who are in hot pursuit for a murder he did not commit. The 1915 thriller by John Buchan became a classic Alfred Hitchcock film in 1935 before Patrick Barlow rewrote it in 2005 as a comic whodunit for four actors playing some 150 parts. Directed by Russell Treyz, the play has now arrived at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival for a summer run at Boscobel. Hurry over to see it for an evening of laughter, high jinks and silliness.

James F. Cotter

GARRISON — Since it opened in England in 2005, "The 39 Steps" has been racing across world stages at a record pace, matching the headlong chase of its hero in flight from the police who are in hot pursuit for a murder he did not commit. The 1915 thriller by John Buchan became a classic Alfred Hitchcock film in 1935 before Patrick Barlow rewrote it in 2005 as a comic whodunit for four actors playing some 150 parts. Directed by Russell Treyz, the play has now arrived at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival for a summer run at Boscobel. Hurry over to see it for an evening of laughter, high jinks and silliness.

Thursday opening night's performances had the audience roaring from the start as Richard Hannay (Richard Ercole) is picked up by a girl named Annabella (Gabra Zackman) at a Mr. Memory (Wesley Mann) mentalist program, only to find her next morning by his bedside with a knife in her back. He has learned from her of a secret espionage organization in Scotland called The 39 Steps.

He heads north by train and confides his plight to Pamela (Zackman) who refuses to believe his innocence and turns him over to the police. He gets away, only to be caught again by phony coppers at a political meeting. He escapes while handcuffed to Pamela, takes her to an inn where she finds his story to be true.

Earlier, Hannay had encountered a Professor Jordan (Jason O'Connell), whom Hannay suspects to be the ringleader of the plot to steal military secrets. Back in London at the Mr. Memory show, Hannay is about to be arrested again, but is able to turn the tables on the conspirators.

Ercole embodies the stiff-upper-lip Englishman while he is shackled, chased through bogs and besieged by his relentless pursuers. He leaps through windows, falls from bridges, swims lochs, and parachutes from planes without ever missing a beat or losing hope in his cause. He is a wonder to watch as he deals with his foes and friends who betray him.

As Annabella, Margaret the farmer's wife and the ever-present Pamela, Zackman gives each woman a fresh interpretation; she makes Pamela's conversion to Hannay's cause believable. She, too, keeps pace with the swift twists and turns of the action.

Mann and O'Connell have a ball in multiple roles as villains, cops, train conductors, villagers and upper-class spies. Mann is delightful as Professor Jordan's wife, a dowager in a bejeweled gown who elegantly deceives Hannay. O'Connell stops the show as a well-endowed lady innkeeper who leers at and coaches the fugitives in their overnight stay at her inn. These two actors perform lightning changes in clothing with hats and capes flying. Jack Mackie and Marianna Caldwell are two stagehands who manage the props while also becoming streams, bushes and props themselves.

In keeping with film noir, everything in the show is black and white, from the costumes by Amy Clark and lighting by Dan Scully to properties designed by Robert Lavagno. In the blank open space of the huge tent, the actors and crew have created a world of energetic, inventive wonders. Credit has to go to choreographer Lisa Rinehart for keeping the mayhem under control.